Pick Justice and its friends are winning the fight against government secrecy, crony capitalism, and the political and union establishment in Sacramento. The Los Angeles Times just gave fantastic coverage to the cause of workers’ rights and free speech in California’s rigged political and judicial system. “Farmworkers win court battle over access to California labor boards proceedings,” the LA Times headlined on May 11. “A farmworker and business owner can…

In a remarkable show of how employers and workers can work together against government secrecy, a three-judge panel unanimously struck down a California secrecy law as unconstitutional. A top lawyer for Governor Jerry Brown had told the Fifth Court of Appeal in Fresno that workers should “never” be parties to the process. The United Farm Workers (UFW) did nothing to help the workers it claimed to represent, and instead sided with the Sacramento establishment.…

Farmworker Lupe Garcia just won a big win for all California farmworkers, as well as for journalists and for employers who treat their workers fairly. The victory came from a unanimous three-judge panel in Fresno on May 9. The Fifth Court of Appeal ruled that farmworkers have a right to challenge the ALRB’s secretive “mandatory meeting and conciliation” (MMC) practices. It reversed a lower trial court that had favored the ALRB,…

California farmworkers have “never” had a “right” to witness the labor mediation processes that determine their wages and work conditions. That’s what a top lawyer for Governor Jerry Brown argued in court. Pick Justice held a spirited protest outside the courthouse. Agricultural labor mediation has been and should remain secret and behind closed doors, Deputy Attorney General Nelson Richards told a three-judge panel. “It has never been a right” for…